Circular airport: a second life for car batteries

Enel X creates a system to reuse batteries from the automotive sector, giving them a second life by storing excess energy produced by a 30-MW solar photovoltaic plant for Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport (also called Leonardo da Vinci Airport). The facility will cover a 340,000 square meter area.
The innovation lies in integrating second-life batteries – from multiple car manufacturers – and using those batteries for various services (photovoltaic storage, auxiliary services, peak load reduction, and demand response) in the airport environment. The technical management proposal of this solution, which uses batteries of various sizes, voltages, capacities, brands, technologies, and different ages, is a leap forward from the most advanced technologies at present.
The solution will use battery packs from three different car manufacturers, reducing supply risk and increasing the system’s modularity. Advanced machine learning techniques determine the airport's energy needs, and the battery is charged and discharged automatically at optimal times, to provide the highest possible economic return. No new batteries are needed with this project, and the level of greenhouse gas emissions is cut by 100% compared to conventional technology.

Country

Italy

Name of Organization

Enel X

Further information

Rome Airport case study| Enel X Japan
https://www.enelx.com/jp/en/case-studies/rome-airport